The Philadelphia 76ers got a taste of what Carmelo Anthony says makes the Nuggets a "scary team" for opponents in the Nuggets' 124-96 victory. The Nuggets' supporting cast rallied early behind eight Nikola Jokic assists in the first quarter, and they never looked back.
Appearing after the game on "NBA Showtime" with Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, and host Maria Taylor, Melo said that the Nuggets need to fix the "clutch moments" and get help from the supporting cast as they did against Philly. And then he said what fans love to hear.
"And they shoot the ball the way that we know they can shoot, it can get scary for a lot of teams."
Yes, Melo, yes. It can, it should, and if the Joker's supporting cast shoots the way they did against Philly, they can be scary indeed.
Jokic got help from everyone
The Nuggets started the game out hot and pulled away steadily early. Jokic's eight first-quarter assists were one shy of his career-high nine in a quarter, and the Nuggets finished the first half shooting 57% from two and 53% from three on their way to a 32-point halftime lead.
The Nuggets' starters only played three-quarters, and looked amazing as a group. Jokic was slinging cross-court passes, and Cam Johnson and Christian Braun were knocking almost all of them down.
Johnson finished 6-8 from two and 3-3 from three for 18 points, his fourth game in a row with more than 15. And Braun tallied 22 points on 7-9 shooting and was 2-3 from downtown.
That's the kind of production and efficiency that makes the Nuggets a scary team. The question is now, Melo, can the Nuggets get gelled together and wrap up a three-seed in the West?
The Nuggets have finally got a gift from the schedule
The Nuggets have been playing the toughest schedule in the NBA for the last few weeks. But that has now changed. The Nuggets now have one of the easier schedules left, currently ranked 18th in remaining strength.
That gift should provide a boost for the Nuggets to position themselves as the three-seed in the Western Conference playoff race. They're currently only 1.5 games behind the Lakers for third place. However, they are jammed in with both the Rockets and Timberwolves, too. But thankfully, the Nuggets hold those tiebreakers and would receive the higher seed in the event of a tie.
The supporting cast will have 13 more games to continue to gel together before the real games begin. From what we saw in the Philly game, the Nuggets look well on their way to accomplishing cohesion.